Mai-HiME: Continuum
by Syein
Summary: Natsuki fulfilled her dream of being a police officer. During her duty of chasing one of the jewelry thief, an incident warped her to another dimension belonging to the past. [AU]


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Mai-hime/ Mai-otome. They're belonged to Sunrise.

**PS:** This fanfic was inspired by many time travel stories, a particular one would be Continuum, a Canadian TV show created by Simon Barry (I'm also name this fic with the same title). I'm not a scientist for these matter, just ignore the theory and enjoy the story.

**Warning:** NOT all historical facts in this story is accurate. You are free to correct any wrong information that does not directly affect the plot, including my grammars (sentence structure + verb tenses) and stuffs. Rating might change later on. Pardon my English, if it is hard to understand then don't read it, I'll try to make it readable. I don't have a beta reader, I am searching for one though. **This is a fanfiction, not a professional works. **

**Warning 2: **This story is based on a real person in China history, which is Empress Wu Zetian. I did said Shizuru is being depicted as Wu Zetian, that doesn't mean everything that Shizuru did will be the same as Wu Zetian. Not all historical facts in this story is accurate. So my advice is to ignore the real history of Wu Zetian and concentrate on the Shizuru in the story instead (I'm sorry for not being clear regarding this matter)

So let be realistic here, Shizuru is a 26 years old woman during the Tang Dynasty, so of course she is married and had kid/ but the husband was assassinated from the beginning of this story (so don't read if you skeptical about these things)- I should put this warning sooner.

Shizuru Fujino's name seemed to be Téngyě jìng liú in Chinese. However, I'll make it so that Natsuki will still call her Shizuru in this. Just a head up, I don't know any Chinese.

**Story that told in **_**Italic**_** were events in the past. **_**Italic**_** also indicated someone's thought.**

After this chapter, I will finish at least one of my other story so that I could put all my effort into this one. (All the other one are close to finish I think)- Plus, I created this chapter sooner than I intended so that I won't forget the storyline later.

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><p><strong>Ch 1: Rise of the Empress<strong>

_They sailed their boats and let loose their canons. The sound of waves clashing against the shores, dragging several corpses down the deep blue Pacific. Their adrenaline and their faith of the afterlife had allowed them to gain their courage. The roar of men rush in with their metal tools clanging against one another and neither side were willing to yield. Some charged forward randomly with only one thing in mind, kill as much as possible before they become part of the fallen. Truly a barbaric sight, a purest form of madness. _

_A majority of the crew had already became incapacitated as the rest watched on. They watched on, as the ravenous leader trampled on those bloody bodies for he had seek to kill the last of his enemy. They watched on, and in that fleeting moment, one more body of their brethren would crumbled beneath his feet. They watched on, feeling powerless within themselves for their feeble bodies could no longer move for them. They watched on, as he sneered at them like mere vermin, his visage turned contort as he once more indulging in the bloodbath of the battlefield. Until there was nothing left but blood and gore, one leader stood among his subjects. He raised his sword and howled along with his companions for their triumph. _

_The rebels had won against their dictator. They went through so many sacrifices for this civil war. They believed peace will finally come to them, no longer should they feel the oppression under a sovereign. A pity for that of human nature, whenever a nation comes under a new form of government, the heroes of the past become the villains of the present. This one was no exception. _

_In the street, soldier hollered for their new emperor. He rode a dark horse, wearing a golden cross- collar robe, the right lapel went over the left, tying together with sash, a golden boots, and golden imperial crown. The robe sewn with the image of a dragon- a Chinese symbol for power and prosperity. No commoners dare to look up at their emperor. All of them kneeled down with their whole body bowed and head touching the dirty floor. Every soldiers walking in a straight line accompanying their ruler. Once they reached their destination, the nobles are already there making two vertical parallel lines, allowing a passageway for their king. _

_Then every nobles and soldiers lower their head, with two hands clasped in front of them, they recited their passage, a declaration for their emperor, a flatter praise for his dignify being. _

"_Stronger are your feet than the barren stone! Mightier are your voices than the manifolds winds! For you are become as a building such as is not, save in the mind of the All-Powerful manifestation of our king!" (168)_

_Emperor Gaozong smiled at his subjects. How he dreamed of this day, where he reigning as a higher being, and enjoying the leisure of looking down at all peasants, all nobles, all soldiers, and all other human being. He is now a god of his country. He inherited the throne after the defeat of his predecessor. Just like the old ruler, he governed with an iron fist. Ambition will never rest, in every generation there will be people to plan for another coup d'état. But never did he know, his own downfall brought by one wrong decision, but none was brought from the outside force. _

_His current consort is Empress Tengye. His previous wife was accused for murdering Empress Tengye's newborn daughter, therefore, he beheaded Empress Wang. He married Tengye Jing Liu and made her his official wife. After the Empress delivered for him a son, he was assassinated. Empress Tengye took over the administrative duty of the courts, making her the most powerful person in the country. Her son is still an infant then, and he is too young to be the emperor._

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><p><em><strong>China, Beijing 2015<strong>_

The heavy footfalls echoed within the dark alley. A shadow went pass several trashcans and dirty cardboard boxes, behind him, two figures emerged, chasing him right at the edge.

"Hold it right there you bastard!" One of them yelled out as she jumped from the rooftop and descend down in front of the thief. The other one pulled out a gun and shot at the ground as a warning.

The thief holds on tightly to the ancient necklace. His teeth gritting tightly, but he made no sign of surrender despite the heavy breathing that he lets out from all the running. He halted on his step when he realizes the agents had cornered him.

"Now, be kind and return that, then maybe your penalty will be lessen." Nao scratching her head as she tries to approach the man.

"Why not just hold him down and snatch it away?" Natsuki voiced out. It bothered her that her boss had ordered everyone to retrieve the necklace back at all cost, to the point of providing every agents with an airplane ticket to China. What so special about this thing anyway? Beside the fact that the jewelry is probably a very expensive item.

However, the thief only smirked. He raised the necklace up in the air, mumbling something that could only be count as gibberish for the two agents. What surprised them is when the ruby stone from the necklace turned into a golden color, a bright light shone through the dark alley, blinding both agents temporary. Before they could perceive what was happening, a dark circle appeared below them, dragging all three people in its abyss.

The rest of the police forces finally arrived. They checked the entire area including the dark alley, but to no avail, they found no sight of their two best agents- Kuga Natsuki and Juliet Nao Zhang. The thief also vanished mysteriously. There were no other trace left.

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><p><em><strong>China, Pingyao 618<strong>_

Not very far from a small town of China, a body stirred itself, trying to get up from the hot sandy ground. She could felt the dryness in her mouth and a burning sensation on her skin.

"Ugh..." Natsuki groaned, it's not often for strange thing to happen when she's on duty. Though this is the first time she had a black out, all she could remember was her scream and Nao's when both of them being drag inside that dark hole. Other than that, she doesn't remember anything else. Nao is nowhere in sight, and neither is the thief.

"Where...am I?" She mumbled. Her head hurt, comparable to a sledgehammer banging on her brain. Hell, she would be dead by then. She tried to bring back the previous scenario as much as possible, since it is the only lead that put her in this predicament. But all that she could recalled is the dark circle, it was spiraling, such intense gravitational attraction that neither Natsuki nor Nao could move nor escape from it, then she went unconscious after that.

"Damn it!" She got up slowly, her whole body is aching and her right leg going numb, making it even more difficult to stand up. "I'm too young to feel old..."

She stretched for a bit before figuring out where she is. This place is such a barren land. All the trees are dried, and the sun burning brightly on her skin. Not farther away from where she is, a small town gradually appearing within her sight. Though, what she saw didn't exactly help her situation.

The whole town was massacred. Such a messy scenes, seeing how it's not being done by gun but by some objects like blade, spike, spear, or human's parts. One of the body looked like he was being beaten by a group of people lynching him with their legs. Another body seemed like someone had drown her in the water bucket by keeping their pressure on the victim's neck. Even children were not spare. Blood plastered all over the place and already parched. Some bodies developed large blisters on their skin and it swelling grotesquely, attracting several groups of flies.

Natsuki could only watch in horror. The stench traveled within her olfaction, and she threw up violently on the spot. She is already hungry and dehydrate, this is making it worst. Even within her line of work, this is not something one often see. The strangest thing is, none of the body seemed to be done in with gun. Even though gun is the easiest weapon to execute these kind of mass murder, or bomb, or any other technology that she could think of. It was as if the killers enjoyed the killing, who could had done such an inhuman things. This is not the kind of work that done by one person, possibly a group of killers. The police haven't capture the murderers nor discover the crime scene yet, or else they would have clean up the place already or prevent people from further venture. But why? According to what she observed, the bodies had been last for at least two days, shouldn't someone already discover this genocide and call the authority?

Another thing that caught her attention was the materials the houses were built in. They were made out of rammed earth, the roofs were made out of thatch, and the furniture seemed to be made out of plain woods. Not the safest place to guard against murderers or thieves, plus, nothing is valuable in these houses. Is this region belonged to a very poor, isolated, old fashion village? Unless the thieves already took all the valuables. Wherever this is, this is not China for sure. But how did she got here in the first place?

The odor is starting to get into her, making her feels nauseous. She needs to get out of this place then notify an authority and find out where is this, she needs to search for Nao too! Really, that long-term partner of her, hopefully the redhead won't end up in this same situation. _Hah! As if...what could be worse than this?_

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><p><em><strong>China, Hangzhou 618<strong>_

Nao fell from the sky. Her body hit through several branches, breaking them one by one, until she finally landed on a bundle of dried grasses with an 'oof'.

"Ow ow ow." Nao slowly getting up while massaging her aching back. Thanks to the branches, she didn't fall unconscious like her other partner.

She is always the type that welcome adventure, but not when things start to get out of her control. Now her back is hurt, she got no idea where she is, and her eyes almost pop out when she realized a group of people were surrounding her. They all dressed in tattered outfits, and some of them were emitting an unpleasant scent. Her first thought was perhaps someone had tossed her into a midst of homeless people or something.

A young girl came up, pointing her finger at the redhead and yelled out in Chinese. "女神!" (Nǚshén).

"What?" Nao might be part Chinese but she was not fluent with the language. The reason why Natsuki and her were in Beijing in the first place was because of their mission. The thief was originally in Japan, but he had successfully bought a ticket to China. By the time the police forces managed to investigate out the culprit, it was too late. Instead of sending a few people to track down the thief, their boss sent out the entire elite forces, among them were Nao and Natsuki.

The villagers started to get near her. Just like the young girl, they were hollering the same words toward Nao. "Nushen! Nushen! Nushen!"

"Arghh! Shut up!" The redhead agent put her hands on both of her ears. These people are starting to get on her nerve. "Can anyone tell me where am I?" She yelled out.

They finally stopped chanting as they stared at her like some piece of exhibition. Then they all turned around, whispering to one another, some of them discreetly glanced back at her and then went back to their mumbling. Nao watched them with a vein popping on her head. She sat with two arms crossing on her chest, indicating her displease with the situation.

Then finally, one of them approached her. He was an old man with long white beard, the way the people parted way for him suggesting that he might be their leader. He kneeled down in front of her and spouted of what Nao translated as 'gibberish', then he offered her his cane with both hands. "请带领我们" (Qǐng dàilǐng wǒmen)

The redhead lifted an eyebrow toward the old man's action. She hesitantly took the cane and examined it. It was just a normal cane. They didn't even answer her question either, assuming they don't speak her language. Nao heaved a sigh and scratched her head in frustration. She stepped down from the dried grasses, hoping to find someone that would speak Japanese or English. However, the people still blocking her way, all of them were expressing their curiosity, pricking at Nao's strange outfit, red hair, and jade eyes.

"E-Excuse me, but can you please move?" The agent began to grow impatient, she will explode at any moment soon by these strangers and their weird scent.

They did not yield for her. The redhead figured they didn't understand what she was saying. She made a gesture with two arms spread open, indicating that she wanted them to spread out and open the way for her, but they only looked at each other with their blank expressions, making her felt like an idiot. Before she knew what had happened, all of them kneeled down in front of her, chanting that same 'gibberish' words. She face palmed in distress and mentally yanking out her hairs. _I swear Natsuki, whenever you and I partner up, I keep getting into these strange situation._

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><p><em><strong>Near the Capital of China, 618<strong>_

Just like any of her usual stroll, the empress snuck out of the palace, temporary leaving the works to her most trust attendants. Her movements are quick and elegant, every of her steps are fast paced and light. Just like an assassin, she moved with ease, avoiding every guards for she had memorized all the palace's secret routes.

Empress Tengye is in her 26. She married the deceased emperor when she was only sixteen years old. The way she moves that betokened a high dignity, and her demeanor betokened a sense of intimidating to her subjects, her appearances that betokened a siren bewitching the people around her. That is to say, her grandeur had easily captured the king's attention, after the beheaded of empress Wang, it didn't take long for him to make her his official wife. She is a force to be reckoned with, behind that enigmatic smile, countless of dead bodies groveled at her feet. Just like her deceased husband, she ordered the eradication to any threats or those whom she suspected as a threat against her throne.

There are many controversies regarding Empress Tengye as the current ruler. The empress had studied abroad in Japan at the age of nine and returned at the age of 15. Even though she was born in China, some people were skeptical to her foreign bearing, especially the strange accent that she carried with her, though none of them dare to voice that out. Another controversy that should be obvious in this time and age, she was the first female sovereign of China, many people didn't take kindly to that when it blatantly challenged their Confucian beliefs. The third controversy was when she placed Buddhism over Daoism, she faced some protest in that regard but it was not huge enough for any rebellions. Finally, instead of determine an official through their nobles blood, she hosted exam placement test for scholars, those who passed shall took part as an officials. While that decision pleased many citizens- since everyone will have the chance to become part of the government, it did pissed off many aristocrats. At the time, majority of official positions belonged to the nobles, the empress's decision could jeopardize her own dominion. Needless to say, some did tried to assassinate her, but so far, none had succeed.

Her usual stroll consisted of watching over the people, not for their well-being, but to watch for any rebellion activities and corrupt officials. Even if she took over the administrative duty of the court, receiving reports from her attendants doesn't mean one could see or hear everything, there was no telling if the reports are true or not. Especially corrupted officials that feed her their adulation daily, if she stuck in the palace all day and indulge in luxury, sooner or later, they will be the one who control her, not vice versa.

She appointed mostly scholar to took over the high positions, their chance of betraying her is less than those of the nobles blood whom are now bitterly despised her. Though none of them dare to show that hostility, for it might touch the wrath of the empress. Even if none dare to raise their voice, silently, they knew the fate of those who deemed as disloyal against her supremacy.

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><p>Everywhere she went, the land was parched. One could mistook this for a desert, but it was just the hot blazing sun burning this region. The sky was cloudless, all the plants and flowers were wilted. There was no other town for her to take shelter. Natsuki had wandered aimlessly for day, trying to find someone that could help her. All human die eventually, though, if she were to die, dying of thirst and starve was the last thing on her mind.<p>

She walked and walked, cursing her superior under her breath. If it wasn't for them, she wouldn't be in China, and she wouldn't be in this situation. At this point, even a curse word sounded hoarse, she really need water.

Just when she thought all hope is lost. She heard the sound of galloping from a far distance. Her lips curved up into a smile, it was to her delighted that someone is here, judging by the sound, several people are heading near her direction. O heaven! A deity had came to her rescue! Or so she thought. Several masked individuals are approaching on their...horses? She found it odd that nowadays people still using these kind of animal as transportation, but what matter is that she is going to be save!

"Hellooo!" Natsuki yelled out to them, waving her hands up in the air, hoping to notify whoever that is to come. She tried her hardest to scream in a scratchy voice. "I need help!"

One figure seemed to notice her as the person lead the rest of the group toward Natsuki. Much to her displeasure, her smile immediately faded at the realization that all of them were drawing their swords. They finally reached her, there were about six of them with their faces hidden. They were talking among themselves and she recognized the language as Chinese. _So this is China after all. _

"N-Nihao…?" She did learned the language a bit during her college year, but it wasn't the best for she didn't have the chance to use it for over two years already.

"需要水?"( Xūyào shuǐ) She tried the language and smiled at them politely, hoping them to understand and give her some water. Once again, Natsuki's smile dropped when the people only sneered at her. Their swords are now pointing toward her and their horses formed a circle surrounding her.

"Oi…you kidding me right?" The agent squeaked. These people dressed old fashion enough, and for a moment there, she was wondering if she had wandered into the middle of a movie shoot or something- until they all charging toward her with the intent to kill that is.

"AHH!" Natsuki yelled out, but calm down immediately as she dodged the first strike. These people really did planned to kill her, the bloodlust was not common in her line of work, which is to say, she recognized that sensation so well.

"Shit!" She dodged another blade and stumbled backward, her leg hit a rock from behind and she fell down, making her completely vulnerable.

"停止! 救命! 別! 貓! 狗! ARGH" She yelled out every Chinese words that ever jumped in her brain. She hastily retreated her body back before another strike landing right on her upper joint. She screamed out in pain, but it was no time to wail. She could saw the shadow of a mask one, raising the sword and ready to chop her head. In that moment of self-defense, she pulled out her gun and shot one of them right on the head. The "Bang" was loud enough to make their horses spooked and ejected one of them on the ground. Natsuki using that chance, she shot another bullet on the fallen's leg, and the mask individual cried out, he hugged his leg as he whimpering countless incoherent words.

All the other stopped their movement, they were confused due to the unusual sound, and none of them know what just happened. In their point of view, one of their ally just died when nothing hit him, until they saw a hole in his head with blood rushing out, and another ally suddenly screaming in pain with the same red liquid pouring out his legs. All of them are now looking at the raven hair woman with incredulous eyes.

"巫婆!"(Wupo!) One of them screamed. The other made no hesitation as they continue charging toward her, their bloodlust becoming substantial, and they gave out a fierce cry in revenge for their brethren.

In that darkest moment, fear took over the agent. She pulled the trigger over and over, until the last one fell down. She had no idea if they are crazy or just wanted a dead wish, especially after they saw her wielding a gun, they still trying to kill her with swords. Even as their comrades fell down one by one, they still charged toward her, she got to give them credit for that, such courageous act was just downright vacuous, especially if it for the sake of immoral deed. It will be a different story if they done it for the sake of protecting someone or patriotism, however, she gave them no mercy for this one.

A part of her felt guilty by the fact that she just killed several people in this unknown place. It was self-defense, she justified. For someone in her caliber, she could have just twist their arms and took the sword away from them, but fear overwhelmed her along with thirst, starve, and pain- all that logic being pushed through the back of her brain, as she kept shooting for her live. What more, she was being outnumbered, her martial arts alone is not going to help her fight against six people with armed swords riding horses. Possibly that was why her mechanism defense kicked in, allowing her to trigger the revolvers.

She got a feeling they were the same killers who murdered the entire previous village. Why else would they attacked her out of nowhere? Thievery possibly. A groan from behind alarmed her.

One of them was still alive. Apparently, it was the one that fell out of his horse earlier, the bullet had incapacitated him.

She approached the man and took off his mask, he had spiky hair, dark skin, and a crossed scar on his left cheek. She kicked his sword away and took a water bottle from one of the horse that are loyal enough to stay with their dead owners. _These are well-tamed horses. _

She gulping down the water hastily, leaving the escaped liquid trailing down from her mouth to the collarbone. Her thirst is now sated! In all her life, she never thought of the day she would missed water this much. People did indeed took things for granted until they lost it.

Natsuki then took out a rein from a horse's weaver, she made her way to the man and tied his hands into a knot, surprisingly, he made no struggle . Then she searched for anything that could put pressure on both her wound and his wound. She finally found a bag full of clothes, she took out a plain one and tore its fabric. She pressed the fabric into the wound after dipping it with water, wincing a bit at the pressure. Satisfied, she kneeled down with one knee on the ground and asked the spiky hair man "Do you understand English?"

He just glared at her, until he felt a hand slapped on his face, informing him of his current predicament.

"Do you understand English?" She tried again.

This time, he only looked at her with a bewildered expression. She sighed, then she switched to Japanese, seeing how China and Japan are closed to each other in some way or another. Hopefully he would know the language. "Do you understand Japanese?"

She was more than thrilled when she saw him nodded. "Great! Then tell me where is this? Who are you people? Why are you trying to kill me? Did you know that I'm a police officer? How did I get here? were you people the one who responsible for killing the villagers in the previous town?"

Apparently he couldn't absorb all of her questions, his blank expression spoke for itself. After a silent moment passed, he finally said in a heavily accent Japanese. "This is China, my name is Takeda Masashi, you are in our territory, thus why we attacked you, this is not over yet, my other comrades will arrive here and took revenge for us! Then we-"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence when another slap spun his face. "You haven't answer all of my questions and there was no need for you to add unnecessary details." She growled. Though the 'unnecessary details' that he just spouted made her aware that there are others out there.

He grimaced before proceed to answer her inquiry. "Yes, we were the one who killed those villagers, they weren't able to pay the required taxes for us you see-"

Now he could felt the metal tool closing on his neck, Natsuki's voice turned rough and cold. "You killed those people just for that?"

He gulped slowly, in fear that just a slightest neck movement would cause the sharp metal to dip in his skin. "W-We have no choice, we cannot survive in this place without taking things from other, it was normal for us in this area, if we don't kill, we'll be the one getting kill!"

"And the government do nothing about it?"

He snorted "The government is the one driven us into this state!"

"How can they ignored you for your crime." Natsuki asked in perplex.

"They are the one that caused this! We are immigrants, all of us, they took our lands away in favored of the natives, forcing us to live in this forsaken place."

Natsuki heaved a sigh, this is just beyond odd for her, as far as she knows, China was not in this situation, unless her professor fed her the wrong information. "Still, you mercilessly killed those villagers, and the children as well! Why?"

"At first we just killed for survival, but eventually, some of us started to enjoy it, we becoming a bunches of barbarian. However, think about it, the children won't survive well in this place without the adults, we merely putting them out of their misery. As for us...we can't raise them, we don't have the resource."

"Oh...so you admitted to being a barbarian. There are proofs that you did tortured some of them, give me a reason why I should spare you."

He looked guilty enough, and Natsuki could see it as a part of his saving grace. He bit his lips slowly before resigning to his fate. "Just kill me, this life is a joke."

Natsuki was not a saint, after witnessed the crime scenes with her own eyes, there was no way for her to forgive such a bloodthirsty murderer, and perhaps, putting him out of his misery is a good choice as well -until her other conscience said otherwise. "No, you are going to pay for your crime by living! I am not letting you off this easily."

His eyes widened at the revelation. Then she turned back and looked at him with a frown. "You didn't violate any of them did you?"

"N-No, I swear I didn't, I used to have a wife back in Japan but she's dead." He looked sadly at the ground before he felt the reins around his arms loosen. He looked up to see the raven-hair woman with a smirk on her face, she could see the honesty in his eyes, therefore, she decided to free him. It's not over yet though, he has a huge crime to atone for.

"If you make any funny movement, you'll have the same fate as your fallen comrades, and don't try to escape."

He only nodded at her statement. Then she got on one of the horse and him on the other. He eyed her suspiciously, both of them had several questions in their mind regarding who, where, and how. One was consumed with curiosity and confusion, while the other was consumed with fear of the unknown and cautiousness.

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><p><strong>Story Explanation<strong>

**If anyone have questions for the story, let me pm you! (I will be able to explain them thoroughly) Yes, the beginning of the story supposed to be confusing, it will be clarify later on. Here are some simple explanations: **

**Shizuru's Chinese name is Tengye Jing Liu (Empress Tengye), she took on the role of Wu Zetian- Wu Zetian is a real historical figure. ****Wu Zetian actually had six children, but I crossed out all of them and gave Shizuru only two children (one child is dead, and the current one is her son). Shizuru modeled after Wu Zetian but she is not Wu Zetian, not all historical facts in the story is accurate. **

**Summary for Ch.1- [This is everything you need to know for the story]**: _In the beginning of Ch1 there are Italic paragraphs that described a war. It was a civil war and the rebellions won against their government. The one who led the rebellion was Emperor Gaozong, he won the war and claimed the throne, his current wife was Empress Wang._

_Later on, Emperor Gaozong met Empress Tengye and made her his mistress. Empress Wang got accused for killing Empress Tengye's newborn daughter, so Emperor Gaozong beheaded Empress Wang then made Empress Tengye as his official wife. One year later, Emperor Gaozong got assassinated, leaving Empress Tengye with a son. Empress Tengye rule the country in his stead, she didn't marry anyone else, Emperor Gaozong was her first and last husband. _

_Shizuru's son played an important role in this story, which is why I didn't get rid of him- so if you displease with it, don't read. I never say anything about Shizuru murdered her own daughter, I only said Empress Wang got accused for murdered Shizuru's daughter._ _The daughter is the first born (got killed), the son is the second born (still alive)- both of them are Emperor Gaozong and Empress Tengye's children. _

_Then the event switched to the modern time: Nao and Natsuki were chasing a thief and they both got dragged into the past (Tang Dynasty in 618). _

_Then event switched back to 618: Natsuki, Nao, and the thief are separated, each of them fall into different situation. Then you got a quick peek at Shizuru's situation, but that's not everything about her (so don't jump into conclusion too fast). _

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><p><strong>Translation <strong>

**Most of the Chinese letters in this fic, you don't need to know them to understand the story, but I'll put the translation here due to one guest's request. **

**(btw, if you right click your mouse, then click "translate to English", it will allowed you to copy and paste the Chinese words)**

**女神**** _(Nushen)_ - "Goddess" (when the people chanting for Nao)**

**请带领我****们 ****_(_****_Qǐng dàilǐng wǒmen)_****- "Please lead us" (when the old man gave Nao his cane) **

**_Nihao_**** is "Hello" in Chinese.**

**需要水****? ****_( Xūyào shuǐ)- _****"Need water?" (Natsuki's attempt in asking for water) **

**停****止****! ****救****命****! ****別****! ****貓****! ****狗****!****- ****"**** Stop ! Help! Do not ! Cats ! Dog !" (Natsuki screaming random Chinese words when her life is threatened) **

**巫婆! _(Wupo!)- _"Witch" (The masked men thought Natsuki is a witch when she used her gun)**

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**I'm cutting my author note short because I can't answer all of guest's review.**

**To Juno: ****:**. In the real history, Wu Zetian is an empress, she is not the emperor, I think you mistook empress Wu Zetian as someone else in China history. (what you said is correct in version 2): The real Wu Zetian did murdered her own daughter so that she could accuse Empress Wang of the crime. However, in my story, Shizuru did no such thing. She did not murder her own daughter. So don't look too much into Wu Zetian's history. I did said Shizuru is being depicted as Wu Zetian, that doesn't mean everything that Shizuru did will be the same as Wu Zetian. Not all historical facts in this story is accurate. Also, the son is between emperor Gaozong and Shizuru. There is no other emperor here. There is only one emperor in my story, he is emperor Gaozong, but he got assassinated.

I never say anything about Shizuru murdered her own daughter, I only said Empress Wang got accused for murdered Shizuru's daughter. The daughter is the first born (got killed), the son is the second born (still alive).

Oh just to add, thank you for your thoroughly constructive criticism.


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